The present invention relates to an adjustable picture hanging hook and, more particularly, to a picture hanging hook capable of allowing the vertical and/or horizontal position of an item to be hung thereon to be adjusted without having to re-mount the picture hanging hook.
A variety of picture hangers have been previously designed and sold for the purpose of hanging picture frames and other items on walls and other vertical surfaces. Standard picture hangers typically are formed pieces of metal mounted to a wall by one or more nails and that include some sort of hook on which a picture frame is supported. Typically, wire extending across the rear side of a picture frame is supported by the picture hanger""s hook.
One common problem associated with such standard picture hangers is the difficult task of positioning the picture hanger on the wall at an appropriate location such that the picture to be mounted thereon is located at the exact, desired location. A picture hanger is mounted to a wall usually by a nail. Mounting a picture hanger too high or too low, or too far to the right, or too far to the left, of the desired location, even by a fraction of an inch, in turn leads to the undesirable task of remounting the picture hanger itself, this time at a different location on the wall. Such remounting is wasteful, time consuming and results in the creation of unnecessary holes in the wall. These additional, unnecessary holes are aesthetically undesirable, may result in reduced wall strength, and ultimately need to be repaired. Still further, an already mounted picture frame may later need to be remounted as a result of shifting of walls which often occurs after a newly constructed structure has settled.
In addition to standard picture hangers, a variety of hangers have been designed that attempt to overcome the above-mentioned problem of standard hangers. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,330,525, 4,611,780, and 5,605,313 disclose just a few examples of hangers designed to provide multiple positions on which a picture frame may be mounted. However, while such prior art designs attempt to simplify mounting, none provide the user with both ease of use and a range of mounting positions to enable for quick and efficient mounting of a picture frame or other item to be hung.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook (sometimes called picture hanger or, simply, hanger herein) that is easy to use and manufacture and, at the same time, overcomes the above-mentioned problem associated with standard picture hooks.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook that enables for the easy modification of the picture hanging position in the vertical and/or horizontal directions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook that, once mounted to the wall, alleviates both the need to re-mount the picture hanging hook and alleviates any need to lengthen or shorten the wire which is attached to the frame.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
In accordance with the present invention, an assembly for hanging picture frames and other objects to a vertical support includes a base with locking grooves that is designed to be mounted to the vertical support and a wheel disposed on the base and which is movable thereon. The wheel includes a set of teeth disposed around its perimeter and where one of those teeth is received within one of the base""s locking grooves. A mounting knob fixed off center to the front surface of the wheel is designed to receive the item to be mounted thereon.
As an aspect of the present invention, the wheel is movable to a raised position where none of the wheel""s teeth is disposed in any of the locking grooves, and the wheel is longitudinally movable relative to the base in the raised position and the wheel is not longitudinally movable in the lowered position.
As another aspect of the present invention, the wheel can be rotated when it is in the raised position.
As a further aspect of the present invention, the base includes an aperture that extends along its length, a stem is fixed to and extends from the center rear surface of the wheel, and a holding disk is fixed to the stem. The stem extends through the aperture in the base so that the holding disk is disposed behind the base. The holding disk has a diameter greater than the largest height of the base""s aperture so that the wheel cannot be separated from the base.
As an additional aspect of the invention, the stem is sized to be received within a respective one of the cavities of the aperture when one of the wheel""s teeth is received by one of the base""s locking grooves.
As yet a further aspect of the invention, the base includes a ridge that extends along its rear surface so as to provide a gap adjacent to the vertical support on which the base is mounted, and where the holding disk is disposed in this gap and is freely movable therein.
In accordance with a method of mounting a picture frame on a vertical support, the base of the hanger assembly of the present invention is mounted to the vertical support, the wheel of the hanger assembly is moved relative to the mounted base, the wheel is locked on the base, and then the picture frame is mounted on the knob that is fixed off-center to the wheel.
As an aspect of this method, after the hanger assembly is mounted to the vertical support, the picture frame is mounted on the knob, an amount of correction of the picture frame mounting position of the mounted picture frame is ascertained, the picture frame is removed from the knob, and the wheel is moved relative to the base to a position in accordance with the ascertained amount of correction of the picture frame mounting position.
As a further aspect, both vertical and horizontal correction amounts of the picture frame mounting position are ascertained.
As another aspect, the locking step is carried out by lowering the wheel to a lowered position whereby one of the wheel""s teeth is positioned within one of the base""s locking grooves.
As an additional aspect, the moving step is carried out by rotating the wheel to a position where the knob fixed to the wheel is at a desired vertical position.
As yet a further aspect, the moving step is carried out by moving longitudinally the wheel to a position where the knob is at a desired horizontal position.
As yet another aspect, the wheel may be both moved longitudinally and rotated so that the knob is at desired vertical and horizontal positions.